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(No Model.) Sheets-Sheet 1,

i 2 W. M. SCOTT & C. PROOTOR.

- BREAKDOWN GUN. No. 288,670. Patented Nov. 20, 1883.

- lr lventors. itnessei. @M M (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. M. SCOTT & O. PROOTOR.

BREAKDOWN GUN.

No. 288,670. Patented Nov. 20, 1883.

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WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCI-I SCOTT, OF BIRMINGHAM, COUNTY OF XVAItYVIOK, AND CHARLES PROGTOR, OF HANDSVORTH, COUNTY OF STAFFORD, ENGLAXD; SAID PROCTOR ASSIGNOR TO SAID SCOTT.

BREAKDOWN GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,670, dated November 20, 1883.

Application filel September 6, 1883. (No model.) Patented in England August 8, 1883, No. 3,959.

1'0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, XVILLIAM. MIDDLE- DITOI-I Scorr, of the firm of W. and 0. Storm S5 SON, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, England, gun-manufacturers, and (Jr-mamas Pnocron, of Handsworth, in the county of Stafford, England, gun-maker, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loadin g Small-Arms, for which application for provisional protection in England, dated August 8, 1883, No. 3,859, has been made,) of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has reference to breech-loading smallarms of the kind commonly known as dropdown guns, and it consists in the following arrangement and combination of parts for effecting the cocking of the hammers of the said dropdown guns on the raising of the breech ends of the barrels from the break-oft for the purpose of charging them.

In the body of the gun is an opening passing obliquely from below the axis on which the barrels and fore-end turn to the rear end of the body and terminating opposite the breast of the hammer. In this hole a rod somewhat longer than the hole slides, the said rod being urged toward the muzzle end of the gun by a coiled spring. At the joint part of the fore-end, and near its upper face, is apin, on which a cranked lever turns. The short up per arm of this lever is nearly horizontal and the long arm nearly vertical. The short arm of the said lever bears upon a shoulder made on the front end of the body, and the long arm of the said lever bears against the lower end of the sliding rod described. Vhen the muzzle end of the barrel is depressed for the purpose of raising the breech end, the center on which the cranked lever turns is depressed with it. This depression of the center on which the cranked lever turns causes the said lever to turn upon its center, the short arm of the lever being prevented from descending by the shoulder on the body 011 which it bears. By the action described the long arm of the cranked lever moves toward the break-off, pushing forward the oblique sliding rod, the upper end of which,bearing against the breast of the hammer, raises and cooks the hammer. The cocked hammer is retained in position by the ordinary scar, and bent when the muzzle end of the barrel is raised for closing the breech. By the depression of the muzzle end of the barrel and the advance motion of the sliding rod the coiled spring described is compressed, and on the raising of the muzzle end of the barrel the compressed spring produces the re turn motion of the rod and assists the rising motion of the barrel. By the action of the mechanism described, the hammer is cocked on the opening of the breech end of the barrel, and the rod by which it was cocked withdrawn by the shutting down of the breech end of the barrel, so as to leave the hammer free to fall. The mechanism described is applicable to single and double barrel guns.

\Ve will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the manner in which our invention is to be performed.

Figures 1 and 2 representin longitudinal section, partly in elevation, the breech end of a double-barrel dropdown gun containing cocking mechanism constructed according to our invention, the stock and other parts of the gun being omitted. In Fig. 1 the barrelsare represented shut down and the hammers discharged, and in Fig. 2 the breech ends of the barrels are represented lifted from the breakolf for opening the gun and the hammers cocked. Fig. 3 represents in plan the foreend of the gun separately. Fi 4 is a detail view of the cocking-rod. Fig. 5 represents one of the cranked levers carried by the foreend separately. Fi 6 represents one of the locks detached, with an addition, as hereinafterexplained, and Fig. 7 represents a part of the same.

The same letters indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

As the cocking parts at each side of the double gun are alike in construction and action, we will, for convenience of description, describe the cocking parts at one side only.

a is the barrel, turning 011 the axis 1), and c is the body of the gun. (Z (Z is the fore-end,

fixed to and moving with the barrel a, as usual. Sliding in the oblique opening 6 in the body of the gun is arod, f, by the motion of which, effected as hereinafter explained, the hammer g is cocked. The said sliding cocking-rod f passes from below the b to the rear end of the body 0, and terminates opposite the breast of the hammer g. The motion of the cocking-rod f is limited by a stop-pin, 71, work ing in a cut-away part in the side of the rod, and the said rod is urged toward the muzzle end of the barrel by the coiled spring 1'. This spring takes a bearing at one end against a shoulder on the rod f, and at the other end against a shoulder made in the body 0, as rep resented.

In the joint part (1 of the fore-end d is a cranked lever, k If, turning on the pin or center Z. The short upper arm, k, of this lever is nearly horizontal and the long arm A is nearly vertical when the parts of the gun are in their normal positions, Fig. 1. 'The said cranked lever h k is so arranged with respect to the sliding cocking-rod f that its long arm 2 5 k bears against the lower end of the said rod, while the short upper arm, it, of the cranked lever bears upon a shoulder, m, made at the front end of the body 0.

On depressing the muzzle end of the barrel a, for raising the breech end for charging the gun, the center Z, on which the cranked lever is k turns, being carried by the fore-end, is depressed with the said barrel. The cranked lever k k is thereby made to turn upon its 3 5 center Z, the short arm 7c being prevented from descending by the shoulder m, on which it bears. The result of this arrangement is that as the muzzle end of the barrel descends the long arm 70 of the cranked lever is made to 40 move toward the break-off, pushing forward the sliding rod f, the upper end of which, bearing against the breast of the hammer g, cocks the said hammer, as illustrated in Fig. 2,which hammer is retained in its cocked position by asacm the sear n engaging with the bent' in the said hammer. By the depression of the muzzle end of the barrel a and the advance motion of the sliding rod f the coiled spring 45 is compressed, and on the raising of the muzzle end of the barrel for closing the breech end the said compressed spring produces the return motion of the rod f and assists in the rising motion of the barrel a. By the withdrawal of the rod f on closing the breech the cooked hammer is free to fall for discharging the gun. Thus the gun is cocked on opening the breech end of the barrel and the cocked hammer left free for discharge on the closing of the breech end.

Instead of causing the cocking-rod f to act directly on the breast of the hammer y, it may act upon a small arm hung in front of the said breast, as illustrated in the lock shown in Fig. 6 and separately in Fig. 7, where p is the arm upon which the cocking-rod acts, the said arm 6 5 being jointed to the lock-plate at f. The lower free end of the arm 19 carries an antifriction roller, g, which bears against the breast of the hammer.

Having now described the nature of our invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we claim as our invention The combination, with the hammer of a dropdown gun, of the oblique cocking-rod f, working in the body, the bearing-shoulder m on the said body, and the cranked lever k carried by the joint part (1 of the fore-end d, the said cranked lever being arranged in the fore-end and with respect to the cocking-rod and bearing-shoulder, and operating substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT. [L s] CHARLES rnocror. [n.sf] Witnesses:

GEORGE SILUV, RICHARD SKERRETT. 

